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HENRY CLAY. 



Clay, Henry, statesman, one of the 'great trium- 
virate' of American orators, was born in 'the Slashes,' 
a district of Hanover count}-, Virginia, April 12, 1777. 
He was the son of a Baptist preacher who died in 

178 1, and from the employment of some part of his 
early youth in connection with a grist-mill, he earned 
the cognomen of 'the mill-boy of the Slashes. 1 His 
early schooling was but scanty. When fifteen years 
old he became an assistant-clerk in the chancery court 
of his native state, and for four years was amanuensis 
to that excellent lawyer and true patriot, George Wythe, 
then chancellor. He also studied law for one year 
with Robert Brooke, attorney-general of Virginia. In 
1797 he was licensed to practise law, and in the same- 
year went to Lexington, Kentucky, where he soon ac- 
quired a high reputation as an orator and as a jury 
lawyer. He was sent in 1806, and again in 1809, to 
the United States senate for short terms. He first 
entered the lower house of congress in 181 I. and was 
chosen its Speaker. This position he filled for many 
years with great ability. He was active in bringing 
on the war of 1812-15 with Great Britain, and was 
one of the commissioners who arranged the treaty of 



4 HENRY CLAY. 

Ghent which ended the war. By his course in regard 
to the 'Missouri Compromise' of 1821, he won the 
title of ' the great pacificator.' In 1824 he was one of 
the strongest advocates of a high protective tariff, 
and in the same year was one of the four candidates 
for the presidency. No choice having been made by 
the electoral college, Mr J. Q. Adams was elected pres- 
ident by the House of Representatives ; and Clay's ac- 
ceptance of the position of secretary of state under 
Adams was by many held to constitute a proof of a 
corrupt bargain between two statesmen, neither of 
whom, in truth, would have been guilty of counte- 
nancing such a bargain, Clay re-entered the senate 
in 1 83 1, and in the same year was renominated for the 
presidency ; but in the following year General Jackson 
was re-elected to that office. His candidature for the 
office of president in 1844 was in like manner unsuc- 
cessful. The compromise of 1850 between the op- 
posing free-soil and pro-slavery interests was largely 
Clay's work. He died July 29, 1852. Although he 
was the most attractive public speaker in his country 
during what is justly regarded as 'the golden age of 
American oratory,' his ability as a reasoner was ex- 
celled by that of Webster ; while his other principal 
rival, Calhoun, surpassed him in intensity and fiery 
earnestness. No man had a larger following of de- 
voted personal friends than Clay, and for more than 
forty years he had a very conspicuous share in shap- 
ing the legislation of the republic. As a public man 
his career was without a blemish. Of the rather nu- 
merous biographies of Clay the best is that by Carl 
Schurz (Boston, 1887). 



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